


Keith of Marmora

by ElfGrove



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe, Blades of Marmora, Galra Keith (Voltron), Gen, galra - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-02
Updated: 2017-02-04
Packaged: 2018-09-21 13:00:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,141
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9550232
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ElfGrove/pseuds/ElfGrove
Summary: Spoilers for season 2 of Voltron Legendary Defender. -- What if Keith had been raised among the Blades of Marmora as a Galran?





	1. First Contact

**Author's Note:**

> Whoops. I did a thing. I blame the fabulous fanarts by @drisrt [[link](http://drisrt.tumblr.com/post/156609712501/give-me-an-au-where-keith-is-raised-by-the-dads-of)], @istehlurvz [[link](http://istehlurvz.tumblr.com/post/156152715054/full-view-for-full-impact-now-that-ive-powered)], and @cherryandsisters [[link](http://cherryandsisters.tumblr.com/post/156634837474/some-sketches-of-keith-in-an-au-where-he-grew-up)] and encouragement by my friends list for inspiring this AU fic.

Kolivan always put him on these boring backwater assignments.

He wasn't as big as the other Galrans. Not even the other hybrid children. He never would be. Whatever strange race his Dam had chosen when she gave birth to him, they had been small. Far smaller than Galrans, and those genetics apparently bred true. There had never been a possibility of blending in to be an agent placed within Zarkon's fleets. He stood out too much. Was too memorable. Drew too much suspicion by being so visibly non-Galran.

So he had been raised within the Blades of Marmora. Mostly growing up in in the main operations base. When his Dam never returned from a mission, the other Blades took up raising him. Although in hindsight, he supposed they had already been doing most of it anyways. There weren't many Galran women in the Blades, and their rarity often made them that much more in demand for certain missions. It meant his Dam had rarely been around. Duty and necessity to the cause. What little he could remember of her, was that she _had_ loved him.

Mostly, it had been Thace caring for him until he was old enough to be on his own. Thace had been everything his Dam and non-Galran Sire had not been. He had gone silent for a week when Thace had accepted the assignment to infiltrate Zarkon's main fleet. Thace's paramour Ulaz was a hybrid himself, part Altean if rumor was to be believed. (It was rude to ask.) Ulaz had taught Keith puzzles and how to strategize. He'd tutored him in all his studies, especially science and medicine. Although, admittedly, he had little talent and less temperament for medicine. It had been painful when Ulaz had left to follow Thace to Zarkon's main fleet. Antok had sparred with him and groomed him, shown physical affection in the ways a growing Galran child needed to socialize properly, although he couldn't remember seeing his face on more than a handful of occasions. Like him, Antok was a hybrid Galran who looked notably different enough that he could never do the covert work of being a double agent in Zarkon's fleets. He wore his mask constantly. Kolivan had been the leader of the Blades of Marmora for as long as Keith could remember. He was necessarily aloof from the others, but he had given Keith his first blade, and passed him his Dam's blade once Keith was old enough to start taking his own missions.

**_His own missions._ **

**_Like this one._**  

Patrolling a largely uninhabited solar system on the edges of Zarkon's Empire, reporting back ship movements and the status of the civilizations here.

He snorted aloud, scrolling through the read-outs on Arus. The Arusians had yet to achieve spaceflight, and likely wouldn't for at least a half dozen centuries. The most interesting thing in the system was a derelict ship sitting near one of the larger villages on Arus, half-buried under who knew how many decades of dirt and dust. It didn't seem to be damaged, just as if it had landed and been abandoned.

He was starting to consider landing on the planet and checking it out. Maybe the ancient thing could be scavenged for something useful to the rebellion. He certainly didn't have much in the way of better prospects here.

He was prepping to enter orbit when the alarms on his ship started blaring, amaranth-colored lights flashing in a shade disturbingly close to fresh-spilled blood. He veered away, hiding his ship amongst some debris and silencing the alarms. A warp gate had opened. It didn't match any energy signature he had in his databases.

The ship that exited the warp gate was even stranger than the readings.

It looked like an older feline beast species.

What had Ulaz called them? **_Lions._**

Why would anyone make a ship shaped like a Lion?

_Why paint it blue?_

It was making a direct line for Arus and the ancient ship on its surface.

He waited a few doboshes before landing his cloaked solo corvette-class ship behind the Lion ship. Four aliens stood outside of it, staring at the derelict when he touched down. They seemed to have been doing so for a while.

The Lion turned to stare at him.

He froze still inside his own ship, eyes wide and locked with a ship that should not be able to detect his. 

Who was piloting it? 

_What were these aliens?_

"Blue?" One of the aliens had clearly caught onto the Lion's gaze. "What are you looking at, my beautiful lady?"

His ship picked up the outside conversation easily.

He was exposed. They didn't look like any race he had ever encountered, and he was at the edge of Zarkon's control...

If they were so powerful their ships could detect his cloaked one...

What if they had never encountered Zarkon? What if they could be allies to the Blades of Marmora?

He de-cloaked the ship.

He was exposed anyways.

When he stepped out, the four aliens were waiting to meet him.

The tallest stepped forward, clearly putting himself in-between Keith and the others. They looked oddly familiar in a way Keith couldn't place. The leader probably thought he was intimidating. Keith might be small, but he'd spent his life surrounded by people that had at least 40 centimeters on this one. He wasn't impressed by that height.

He removed his helmet and bared his teeth in greeting.

The Blue Lion ship looming above made a sound he would have called amused if it were a living creature.

The aliens exchanged wary glances between them.

"Dude, is that supposed to be a smile?"

"Lance," The tall one chastised before turning back to him. "I'm First Lieutenant Takashi Shirogane of Galaxy Garrison. Are you who the Blue Lion was bringing us to?"

Keith took a step back from the alien's (Shirogane's) outstretched hand, tilting his head cautiously, "You do not command the ship that brought you here?"

"Blue's kinda doing her own thing. She brought us here," The 'Lance' from earlier stepped closer casually. "We had to  _jet_ after fighting those Galra jerks."

"You fought Zarkon's soldiers?"

"The Galra, yes." The smallest one adjusted some sort of two-piece visor.

"Zarkon's Empire," Keith spat out reflexively. "Not the Galra!"

Okay. Maybe there  ** _was_** a reason Kolivan never sent him on sensitive missions.

The broadly built man in yellow spoke up next, "There are good Galra?"

"...Yes."

"Wow, that's awesome!" He peered around Shirogane, even though he looked like he should be one of the primary warriors of the group. "Oh, sorry, I'm Hunk! And you are?"

Keith didn't answer that.

"So how do you know these good Galra?" The short one narrowed suspicious eyes at him, "What planet is this? You look Human. Mostly."

He hadn't heard the name of his Sire's species in more than a decade.

"This is Arus." He raised an eyebrow, "How do you know about Humans?"

"We're Human." The small one stepped closer, examining him, "Is Arus your home planet? What do we call you?"

"No!" He wasn't from some backwater... He shook his head, "I'm not from Arus. But you can't be Human. Humans don't have Warp Gate technology. They've never made it this far into space."

"It's complicated," Shirogane said. "But we are Human, and Blue must have brought us here for some reason."

"There is nothing of interest in this entire system."

"There's whatever this structure is," Shirogane gestured to the derelict. "...And there's you."

He couldn't help but preen a little to be judged as interesting. Then again, this Human also thought the derelict was interesting. This Human. These Humans. He'd never spoken to someone from his Sire's species before in his life.

The Lion ship chose then to move, drawing all of their attention. It roared at the derelict, making all of them cringe, and Keith covered his sensitive ears and glared up at the ship. The creature? The Humans talked as if the strange ship were alive.

"I guess Blue wants us to go inside," Lance said brightly, seeming content to ignore Keith now.

A hangar-sized door had opened up in the side of the derelict, and it did not look in as bad of repair inside as he would have expected.

Shirogane looked at him, "It seems like maybe Blue was waiting for you to get here. Coming in?"

The short human looked around as they all carefully stepped inside, "Do you think this leads to the rest of Voltron?"

Keith's eyes widened. 

Voltron? The ancient weapon? 

His head jerked back to the Lion ship. 

 ** _THE LION SHIP._**  

Voltron, the super weapon formed by five supposedly sentient Lion robots. 

It couldn't be.

_OH, BUT IF IT WAS._

The Galran people could get out from under Zarkon's rule. 

The Blades of Marmora could win the centuries-old battle.

**_He had to find out how to get this weapon on their side._ **


	2. The Last Alteans

He followed the Humans into the derelict ship. He should probably stop thinking of it that way. It was in far too good of condition to be called a derelict. If he couldn’t get Voltron for the Blades, he might be able to patch this thing up enough to bring it back to Kolivan whole. Surely, it could be put to some use.

“Hello?” Hunk called out to the darkened hallways, but nothing responded.

This ship had probably been here for centuries; who did the guy think was going to answer him?

Keith watched them all warily, keeping toward the back of the group. Shirogane stuck close, staying between him and the Humans. He had to respect that. The Human wasn’t treating him as an enemy, but he wasn’t trusting him blindly either. It was smart.

“From the size of the Lion, I expected these steps to be bigger.”

“I don’t recognize any of this tech,” Keith supplied, watching them for reactions, hints of what they might know about this ship, or more importantly, Voltron. “It could be a remnant from any of the scores of races Zarkon has destroyed.”

It wouldn’t hurt to further imply that they shared a common enemy.

He heard something powering on and looked up just in time to see a beam of light descend from the ceiling to engulf all of them in a restraining field. It made his hair stand on end, thick dark locks fluffing up with nerves and discomfort, as if he were an undisciplined cub rather than a fully-trained Blade.

The derelict ship wasn’t just repairable, it was active.

“Hold for identity scan.”

The Humans muttered curiously, while every inch of him chafed at the invasion. He was only grateful that, in their curiosity, the Humans didn’t seem to care how he was reacting.

“Who are you?” Shirogane stepped forward protectively, glaring up as if the ceiling would reveal someone operating the ship.  “What do you want with us?”

Keith was reasonably certain this was an automated system, but then again, he had also assumed the ship was a worthless derelict. He could be wrong.

The field dropped without answering, and the ship began to light a path starting with them, and leading down a corridor.

Curiouser and curiouser.

“I guess we’re going that way,” The short Human rolled their shoulders and started forward, seemingly unconcerned by the entire situation.

Were they brave, or did they just lack all caution?

“Pidge, please don’t rush off without us,” Shirogane sighed, ushering the others to follow the small one’s lead.

The ship led them deeper and deeper, and he and Shirogane ended up following close behind Pidge. He could tell Shirogane was intent on protecting his team. His eyes watched warily ahead and he regularly turned to check their rear and to keep an eye on Keith.

“You never told us your name.”

“I didn’t.”

That made the Human smile, a warm gesture with no teeth that strangely reminded him of Ulaz, “My friends call me Shiro. What should I call you?”

“What makes you think you need to call me anything?”

“Based on the last few hours? I don’t think it’s entirely coincidence that we all ended up here at the same time. At the very least, I don’t think this is the only time we’ll meet.”

“Fate?”

He still remembered his Dam had been a big believer in ‘Fate’, especially when she had talked about accepting missions or having met his Sire.

“I don’t know about that. I think there’s something more than coincidence at work.”

He watched just as carefully as Shirogane-- Shiro did. He was already deciding he respected this Human.

“Keith.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Keith.”

“That’s a pretty Human-sounding name, Mullet.”

He gave Lance a withering look. He had no idea what ‘mullet’ meant, but Lance’s tone made him fairly certain it was an insult, “I wouldn’t know. I don’t interact with many pre-warp species.”

“You wanna go, Fluffy?!”

Keith bared his teeth and felt the beginnings of a growl forming in the back of his throat. He wasn’t a child to endure being mocked for his hackles being raised by an unnerving situation.

Shiro intervened, “Lance, stop it.”

They continued down.

No one living seemed to be inside the ship, and Keith wondered what they were being lead to. Hopefully it was clues to Voltron.

The stairs finally gave way to a chamber that must be near the center of the ship.

Pidge guessed it was a control room, but Keith had his doubts. This was a bad position to put a control room. If he had his bearings right, this was far more likely to be the location of sensitive compartments, a data center or med bay depending on the nature of the ship and the priorities of its builders. This would be one of the most difficult places to reach and one of the last to survive if the ship was compromised. The treasure pearl center of the armored shell.

The room made his hair stand up in the same way the scan and restraining field had before.

They all turned as pods began to rise from the floor. Cryopods. Were the ship’s owners still alive?

He shifted, hackles raised, and fingers itching to grab for his blade.

“Are these guys,” Hunk sounded unnerved. “Dead?”

As the shielding cover for the pod deactivated, Keith felt his jaw go slack and his eyes widen at what it revealed. Admittedly, he didn’t have much in the way of firsthand experience to go off of, the majority of the race had been wiped out millennia ago, but he had seen the records, heard the stories...

The ears, and those markings high on the cheeks...

There weren’t supposed to be more than a handful of full blooded Alteans left in the entire universe.

“Father!”

He took a step backwards as the woman fell out of the pod and began interacting with Lance. It ended with the lanky Human on his knees in an armlock.

“Who are you?! Where is King Alfor?! What are you doing in my castle?!”

King Alfor? He was one of the original Paladins of Voltron, the architect of the superweapon. The last King of Altea, dead ten-thousand years, and this woman seemed to expect him to still be around.

“A giant Blue Lion brought us here! That’s all we know!”

He glanced at the Humans as he tensed. Shiro seemed to be trying to decide whether or not to come to his teammate’s defense. Hunk hid behind him, and Pidge watched with that incautious and calculating inquisitiveness.

They knew nothing of King Alfor. Or the Alteans. Why would they? This was all meaningless gibberish to them. He was the only one with information...

“How do **_you_** have the Blue Lion? What happened to its Paladin?”

“No one knows what happened to the Paladins,” He fought down the urge to bare his teeth in his nervousness. “No one has seen any of them in ages.”

“That’s not possible.” She released Lance, sweeping towards the control panel Pidge had been investigating. “How long has it been...”

“Why don’t you tell us who you are?” Shiro stayed in place, voice placating, “Maybe we can help.”

“I am Princess Allura of planet Altea. I’ve got to find out where we are, and how long we’ve been asleep.”

Princess? An Altean **_princess_**? He thought the royal line had died out with the genocide. And she had called this a castle. **_Her castle._**

He took another step backwards. Eyes tracking around the room with new appreciation. The derelict was an Altean ship. An Altean Castle Ship. An unparalleled warship back in its time, according to the records at any rate.

She released a second, older Altean from the other cryopod while they watched, and Lance got into a snit with this one too. The Human was like a cub with his first blade, picking fights and trying to prove his dominance with everyone he met. How childish. Thace would have (had) boxed is ears for this sort of foolishness.

“It can’t be!”

All heads turned to the Princess.

“What is it?”

“We’ve been asleep for ten-thousand years!”

Ten-thousand years? Were these Alteans really from the time when Voltron and its Paladins had been active? When Zarkon had risen to Emperor and changed the course of history for the entire universe? When the Alteans had been one of the few races that could match the Galra in battle? There hadn’t been any Alteans like _that_ in living memory.

Had they somehow slept through the genocide and the destruction of Altea? Hidden on this backwater little planet?

Keith fought with the instinct to retreat until he had a wall at his back. What would this Altean do if she found out he was Galran?

He crossed his arms and hunched his shoulders as she found out the fate of her planet, her people.

“Zarkon was a vile creature! And enemy to all free people!”

“I remember now,” Shiro’s voice trembled as he clenched and unclenched his fists. “I was his prisoner.”

 “He’s still alive? That’s impossible!”

“Zarkon still leads the empire,” Keith confirmed. “He’s a plague on every civilized species there is.”

“He’s searching for a weapon called Voltron.”

“He’s searching for it, because he knows it’s the only thing that can defeat him, and that’s **_exactly_** why we must find it before he does!”

If they were going to find the Voltron super-weapon, he was going to tag along for as long as he could.

He couldn’t risk them learning what he was. _Any of them._ Not right now. The Blades would need Voltron to overthrow Zarkon, but if these people found out he was half Galran now, they’d turn their rage at Zarkon on him.

He would destroy the monster who had ruined the good name of his people.


End file.
